Abacus Launches in Japan

Co-op database compiler Abacus on June 30 launched Abacus KK, a wholly owned subsidiary that has launched operations in Japan. The new unit begins with two of Abacus’s basic services–prospect modeling and house file modeling.

Abacus considers Japan to be the second-largest direct marketing industry in the world, valued at $20 billion, even though direct marketing represents only 1.8% of the total Japanese retail market, compared with 3.36% of the U.S. retail market.

Abacus has hired Hidemaru Sato as president of Abacus KK. Sato was previously president/CEO of AOL Japan, MediaMetrix Japan, and Citizen America.

In the U.S., the Abacus Alliance consists of 1,800 retail and catalog companies. The alliance contains data for more than 100 million households and more than 3.7 billion consumer transactions. In the U.K., the Alliance includes 300 companies and a database of 18.5 million households.